TOR workers want board ousted over mounting tax debts

GH¢167 MILLION debts owed the Ghana Revenue Authority and other state agencies by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) have triggered agitations by the workers of the refinery for the dissolution of the board and removal of the Managing Director, Mr Francis Boateng.

Eighty-five million Ghana Cedis of the debts accrued as a result of the failure of TOR to pay taxes deducted from employees’ income, the non-payment of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) tier one pension scheme totalling GH¢3 million and the inability of the management to pay the Provident Fund contributions amounting to GH¢34 million.

There are also outstanding debts of GH¢8 million of the workers tier two pension scheme,GH¢23 million owed the Electricity Company of Ghana and GH¢4 million owed the Ghana Water company.

The workers say the debts pose a threat to the survival of the refinery and have, therefore, petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to intervene.

A copy of the joint petition by the Professional and Managerial Staff Union (PMSU) and the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers' Union (GTPCWU) in the possession of Graphic Online blamed the board and management for the continuous decline in the fortunes of the refinery.

“Nothing has been done on the longstanding indebtedness to SSNIT,ECG, Ghana Water and GRA,for which the GRA had secured a garnishee order on TOR’s account,” the petition states in part. Management of TOR has rejected the allegations of the workers, saying the debts were inherited since 2009 and that measures were being taken to clear them.

Management response

A statement from the Corporate and Public Affairs Department of TOR said contrary to allegations that the refinery was at the verge of collapse, TOR had regained the trust of investors, with many expressing interest in doing business with it.

It explained that a business and revitalisation plan had been developed as part of the guide and application for the recapitalisation of TOR.

It said this was to ensure that the refinery did not revert to the days of debt accumulation after it had been revived.

Petition to President But the joint petition to the President, signed by the chairman of the PMSU, Mr Bright Abednego, and chairperson of the GTPCWU, Ms Maame Serwah Duncan Williams, accused the board and management of failing to secure partnership deals from several investors who had expressed interest to invest in the expansion of the refinery.

The workers allege in their petition that the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), which is the company’s cash cow, has not been operational for more than a year due to repair works of the turbine compressor and the lack of raw materials to feed the plant.

Not operational

TOR, which is Ghana’s first and only refinery, has not been operational for a while now due to many challenges. Several civil society organisations such as the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers and the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) had been at the forefront of calls on the government to do all it could to get the refinery back on its feet.

The Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, during a tour of the refinery, expressed the government’s commitment to ensure the facility was up and running as soon as possible.

There have been suggestions that the continuous redundancy of TOR may lead to human capital challenges.